ED official said to dna that the case has also been registered against top officials of HUDA including then chief administrator and finance commissioner.
On Friday, Enforcement Directorate has launched money laundering investigation against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He is being investigated in a case of alleged wrongful "re-allotment" of a plot to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), owner of National Herald too, at Panchkula in 2005, at that time Hooda was chairman of Hariyana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).
ED official said to dna that the case has also been registered against top officials of HUDA including then chief administrator and finance commissioner. As they have misused their official position and have given undue favor to officials of AJL by way of cheating and fraudulent transection.
The Haryana Police had registered a case in the matter two months ago. According to police, AJL had been allotted the plot number 17, sector 5 in Punchkula on August 24,1982 for running its Hindi newspaper Navjeevan. However, the construction work was not completed, due to which the allotment was cancelled in 1992. AJL appealed against the cancellation, which was rejected.
In 1998, AJL again petitioned the then chief minister of Haryana, who turned it down. However, it is alleged that, Mr. Hooda, who came to power in 2004, decided to re-allot the same piece of land to AJL in 2005 on the 1982 rate despite reservations from the departments concerned.
On May 14, 2005 Mr Hooda asked legal remembrance known as LR about possibilities of re-allocation of plot. LR suggested that the resume plot cannot be re-allocated again on the current rate because the order related to the plot had already been filed. The department maintained since the allotment had been cancelled, a fresh advertisement had to be given. They also pointed out that re-allotment of the same plot to AJL at the 1982 rate would amount to Rs 62 lakh loss to the exchequer. However, it is alleged that Mr. Hooda got the land allotted to AJL with help of administrator and finance commissioner of HUDA.
Initially, the AJL was given six months to start the construction work and to complete it within two years. On September 1, 2005 AJL asked for one-year time to start the construction work. It is alleged that on Hooda's instructions, AJL was given one extension after the other even when the time limit to start the construction was already expired. In 2013, the construction was completed. However, Navjeevan for which the allotment was made, had already been closed down.
ED sources said that, 'On the basis of these facts that money laundering is clearly suspected and ED is investigating into the money trail involved….Accordingly, investigations are under way to ascertain the alleged irregularities in the whole process'.
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